Friendship Panic!
by Admiral Gilad Pellaeon
Summary: The gang has slowly been growing apart, Finn has a relationship to consider, Jake has puppies, PB has a kingdom to run, and Marceline has to be a vampire. What happens when they find out that they aren't as close as they used to be?
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Adventure Time, nor the rights to it, nor the characters thereof.

Canonicity Note: This story was started after the first episode of the fifth season, Finn the Human/Jake the Dog, was aired. While I use details that are found in the fifth season, this story can safely be placed in an alternate universe that spins off at that point.

There will be details (like Jake's children's names, and information about them) that will be used, but it is best to assume that unless it is mentioned in the story, or has taken place in the 1st-4th seasons of the show, it has no bearing on this story.

Author's Note: (The notes never end!) I work at a slow-ish pace, but reviews really get me fired up, and I love to talk about/address any questions anyone has regarding the story, so if you have any, feel free to ask and review!

"Things are different now. It's not because anyone tried to make it different, and it certainly isn't the fault of anyone thing. It… it just happens. When we were all younger, we were all innocent, or at least, as innocent as we could be.

"Now? Jake and Lady have kids. They are grown up, but responsibility and worry doesn't leave just because they have grown up some. Finn is, or maybe was, in a relationship, I don't honestly know, we don't really talk.

"That seems strange? Maybe. We have drifted away from each other. When the Lich came again, and Finn stole my crown jewel, he didn't justify himself to me. He didn't tell me what he was doing, he just swept in and took it.

"I know everything worked out fine, and that we appear to be friends, and I guess we are. Just… friends, nothing more. We used to be more… Not like that. We were just… close. Most days I don't really notice. I'm busy with experiments, or running the kingdom, I mean even when we were the closest, we hardly had time to hang out. Now though? I woke up today and realized I've talked to Finn once? Twice? In the past four months. Twice at best to someone I used to consider… My best friend I guess…

"It is sad, but what can I do? I broke his heart. I always knew he liked me, but he just grew up so fast… I've lived longer than he has, I may only look 18 but I am older than that. I forget how fast humans age. He was just a kid with a crush, and then… I broke his heart.

"Haha. No, I've tried. Being 'just friends' is a good way to end up awkward again. It has happened, I tried to be friends with him, warn him about Flame Princess, and he blew up at me. No. It's just best if we stayed where we are. But you know what? It breaks my heart too.

"…Sorry for crying. I didn't mean to break down like that, princesses don't cry, right? It breaks my heart because we can't be friends, and I try to fill that hole with other things, but they just don't fit.

"…Sorry, sorry…

"…Thanks… I just… It hurts. I miss him, you know? No matter what happens, I loved that guy and always will. Maybe I can't love him the way he wants me to, but I do love him. Most days, I don't notice that he's gone, but I'll do something that reminds me of him, and I wanna cry.

"Just stupid stuff. Little things that used to annoy me, or bug me. Now, I look back and love it. I love every moment we shared, the good, the bad, whatever. I miss it.

"Thanks for being here for me. I know you can't really hear me, Stormo, but… I guess you're the closest thing I have left to him… So thanks… Thanks for saving the world. Thanks for being who you are." The Princess gave on final hug to the sphinx, then started back down the walkway towards the castle door. Peppermint Butler stood waiting, a soft towel extended out to her.

"I thought you might want this, Princess." He said, and for a moment there, a flash of sympathy appeared on his face, but vanished just as quick as it came.

"Thank you." She dabbed at her eyes, and wiped her nose. "I feel better now. Anything I need to be made aware of?" She turned to look at Stormo one last time. It was winter now, and the Candy Kingdom had just received a big snow. In fact, it was snowing right now. Goliad and Stormo were covered in it, and small flakes kept landing on her face.

The little candy butler shook his body back and forth. "No. Not as far as I know."

She smiled and patted him on his top. "Good. If I'm needed, I'll be down in my lab." At that, she grabbed one of her white lab coats and walked towards the stairs. Before she knew it, she was in her lab.

Little vials of solution sat warming on a hot plate, next to others being treated to an ice bath. Still others sat in cabinets, or on shelves. The lab itself was massive, stretching high into the air, and both vast and deep. Most days, Princess Bubblegum could lose herself in here. Today was not one of those days.

* * *

"Where you going dude?" Jake asked, munching on a sandwich. "Got some plans with a lady friend?" He laughed as he said it, bits of the sandwich flying all over the table. "I'm just kidding bro. A man's business is a man's business, forget I said anything."

Finn smiled at him as he slipped on his jacket. "Nah man. I'm just… going outside. You know. For the snow."

"Whatever man. Just be careful. I think I saw Beemo and NEPTR doing something out there earlier." Jake was looking out the window, his eyes squinted suspiciously.

Finn started the climb down the ladder, shaking his head at Jake. "Alright, I'll be careful." Luckily, Jake hadn't noticed, his normally happy tone was forced today. Usually, he didn't feel all messed up on the inside, like some kinda crazy mess of noodles, but he was strange today.

He walked outside and saw no trace of Beemo or NEPTR, but it was still snowing, it would have covered their tracks. There was a good thinking spot, normally it was a little spring of water, but it would be frozen right now. Finn set off, his hands in his pockets, looking down at the ground.

* * *

"There is something seriously wrong with that dude." Jake watched as Finn slowing trudged away through the snow. "Maaaaaaan. The last time that you messed with Finn's private stuff, things got all weird. I don't need to be doing that." Jake formed two small Jake heads out of his hands, and had them facing each other, speaking from the two sides of the argument.

"But what is gonna happen to Finn then? We can't just let him be all sad and stuff."

"But we can't mess with his feelings and junk. Nobody likes it when we do that."

"J. T. Doggzone gives the best advice! And I say we mess with him!"

"J. T. Doggzone gives the worst advice! And I say we don't mess with him!" Within moments the two hands had begun to fight. Jake's amused face quickly changed into frustration.

"Aww man guys! We don't have time for this! We've gotta decide what to do!" He whined. "We can't just sit here and argue." Both of the puppet heads looked at Jake, and then nodded. "Why don't we go ask Lady! She's smart, and knows plenty of stuff!"

Both of the puppets sagely agreed, and Jake stretched his way out of the treehouse, headed towards the Candy Kingdom to get Lady.

* * *

Normally, four little dweebs playing a stupid little game wouldn't be enough to attract the attentions of the Vampire Queen, but today had been a slow day, and yesterday had been slow, and the day before that she hadn't even been able to finish a song she was writing. So, there she was, hanging upside down underneath a tree, watching four little nerds play some sort of game with dice.

Marceline vaguely remembered some kind of dumb game that was similar that she had played forever ago, but, it was dumb. Now she was slowly creeping closer, waiting until she was close enough to change into her wolf form and scare them. She barely managed to stifle her laughter at the thought of what they would do.

Patiently, in fact, more patient than she had been in months, she approached. When the Queen judged that she was close enough, she jumped down and transformed. She landed in the center of their board and tried to roar. Unfortunately, her foot had landed on something sharp, and instead of a terrifying roar, all she could manage was a pained yelp.

Still, it mostly worked, and three of the losers ran away into the bushes screaming and crying. The last one looked scared, but puffed himself up.

"I-I'm not af-afraid of y-you!" the last boy stuttered, his voice high-pitched and grating on Marceline's ears.

Ignoring the pain, she loomed over him and growled. "What if I ate you, little boy?"

"I'm n-not a b-boy! I'm a girl! An-an-and you don't scare me!" With that, the thing picked up a stick and waved it around in Marceline's general direction.

The vampire squinted her eyes and leaned in closer to the little thing, thinking hard. Maybe it was a girl after all. "Well, what if I broke all your bones then?" She laughed terribly and took a threatening step towards her. Her injured foot ground against the grass, and more pain shot up her leg. Again, Marceline yowled in pain.

The girl managed a weak little laugh. "You've got our four-sided stuck in your foot. Hurts, huh?"

Summoning all her composure she could, the Vampire Queen glared at the little priss before turning back into her human form. As soon as she did, sure enough, a brightly colored die popped out of her foot and landed on the ground. This caused one of the bushes nearest her to shake, and one of the frightened boys emerged and unsteadily walked over to the die.

"She rolled a one." He pushed his glasses more firmly onto his face as he looked at Marceline's true form. "Stinks to stink."

Loudly harrumphing, the vampire turned and floated away. Behind her, the three boys cheered on the girl who had stood up to her. She heard them mentioning that the girl must be a priest, having used command undead or something. Whatever it was, it was stupid.

Today was turning out much less exciting than the vampire had hoped. She had nearly decided on just returning home and sulking when an idea occurred to her. Bonnie was always a good person to pester. A grin emerged onto the ancient girl, and she wizzed off towards the castle, bent and intent on causing as much chaos as she could.


	2. Chapter 1

Quick Note: There have been almost 100 visitors in just 3 days! I'm excited. I'm glad you guys are reading, and I can't wait to hear what you think about the current chapter! Thanks for reading!

* * *

Something was coming. It was coming, and it would not end well if this experiment was still out. A young, and pink, princess wearing a white lab coat over her dress, raced against time to store her experiment. Her first priority was flasks, and she quickly locked those away in a small closet. Her second priority was to turn off all of the flames, store the open chemicals, and hurriedly put all of the used glassware in a sink. She had finished that up, and was moving on towards her final wipe down of the counters when she noticed a single flame still burning.

Once again, the princess turned the flame off, and looked around her lab carefully. She didn't see anything, but that didn't mean much. She turned her back and started back towards the counter she had been working on when she heard a soft 'pop'. Before she turned around, she knew what she would see, a small flame.

Sure enough, it was there, again-again, on the little burner. Her mouth twisted into a line, and her brow furrowed angrily. "Alright! That's enough, thank you! Either come out, or please leave my lab, I am doing delicate experiments and I do not want that ruined!"

A voice sounded just behind her, and nearly in her ear. "Bonnie-Bee, you are just no fun."

Bubblegum whirled around, and in her haste nearly slapped the vampire queen floating upside down behind her. Marceline's slight startle at that lightened the princess's mood slightly, but she managed to keep her face and voice stern. "How many times have I told you that you cannot just come down here and do what you want? I have-!" Marceline's finger pressed to her lips shushed her.

"About the same number of times that I've told you I don't care." Her flippant reply was coupled with her rotating around to face up. Bubblegum was fighting the urge to grind her teeth and scream back some retort.

"Listen. To. Me." Her reply came out cold and controlled, but barely. "Why are you here? Have you just come here to annoy me?" The pink girl turned around and walked over to the sink. "If you have, you've done it and you can leave now." Her hands flew to the glassware, where she attacked them with soap and water.

A range of emotions washed over Marceline's face after the princess had turned around. "Look, I didn't come to get into a fight." She floated over to near the sink and looked at Bubblegum. "Sheesh. I was just kidding around."

"Just kidding around? You could have spoiled delicate experiments! I was trying to make-!" Bubblegum's eyes widened, and she clamped her mouth shut with an audible click. "It doesn't matter what I was trying to make." She pulled her hands out of the sink and began to dry them off. "Just tell me what you want or else leave."

"Jeez princess." Marceline reached over and flicked a little pile of suds into the air. "I was wondering if you wanted to come over and watch a movie? It'll be me and you and Jake and Lady and Finn and FP."

At both of the last two names, Bubblegum's heart skipped a beat, and her angry looked vanished. "I uh-," she shook her head to clear it. "I do not know if I can make it."

Marceline cocked her head to the side, and then a sly smile spread on her face. "I didn't say when it was, so why don't you tell me what a good day for you is?"

"Ah! Fine! Tonight is fine!" PB was angry with herself for letting so much of her emotions show. "Have you asked everyone else?"

"No. Duh. How about we go and do that?" asked the vampire, her smug expression still on her face.

"No. I have to finish cleaning up in here before then, so why don't you go and handle that? You're the one who wants the movie to happen, after all."

Marceline stuck her tongue out and raised her hands in the air, flapping them about. "Alright, whatever. Be at my place, at 6. Bring chips or a drink and stuff. We'll eat snacks and have a good time." She gave Bubblegum a big wink before flying out of an open window at the top of the lab.

Thoughts spun through the princess's head. Finn _and_ Flame Princess? She wasn't sure how she felt about Finn, much less him and his… what? Girlfriend? She didn't know. Her feelings towards FP herself weren't hard to know, she was happy for her, but also sad and concerned, considering her condition. No matter what anyone else thought she didn't feel any animosity towards the elemental. Whether she was jealous or not, on that, the jury was still out and deliberating. She turned back to the sink, still thinking about the upcoming movie night, and continued washing the equipment and cleaning the lab.

* * *

Nearly an hour later she finished putting the last of the stirring rods into their drawer and looked over the room. It was cleaner than it had been in a year. Apparently, Bubblegum thought to herself, I was more worried about tonight than I gave myself credit for.

She left the lab and doffed the coat, hanging it on a hook near the door. Outside, Peppermint Butler was waiting, a small sandwich on a tray ready for her if she was hungry. She idly thanked him and began to eat the sandwich as she walked up the spiral staircase to her room.

The castle itself was mostly empty and silent; the only real sounds were Cinnamon Bun's efforts to turn himself in Cinnamon Doughnut. Normally the silence and emptiness were a welcome change from the efforts of running the Candy Kingdom, but today it seemed they hung around Bubblegum's shoulders like weights.

The princess arrived in her room and promptly flopped onto her bed, letting her face sink into the thick covers. She didn't feel like crying anymore, but she did feel like just laying there for as long as she could.

Thoughts about her feelings would not stop whirling about in her head. How did she feel about Finn and Flame Princess's relationship? How did she feel about Finn? To add to that confusion was Lady's and Jake's kids, she had nothing against them or the kids themselves, and she had known that it was happening. Still, she was shocked at all the responsibilities that a parent had to have. She didn't know if she could handle being personally responsible for the lives of children. Sure, she did great with kids, but she didn't _want to have them_.

Bubblegum growled and rolled over, her hands pressed to her head. What was she going to do? She couldn't fail to show up at the party tonight, but could she go? Sitting up, and biting her lip in frustration, she stormed over to her closet. Angrily, she riffled through her clothes.

She knew she had to go tonight. She also knew that that dress would look hideous on her.

She knew that she was confused, and tonight could just make it worse. She also knew that she had found her outfit. A dark red top with lighter pink jeans, and her hair would just be simply pulled back into a ponytail.

No matter what happened tonight, she would face it like she did every problem. Carefully, cautiously, and meticulously, and like every problem she ever encountered, she would solve it. Surely this wasn't harder than any science experiment she had ever done.

* * *

After Bubblegum had made up her mind, it seemed like a weight had lifted off her. Feeling more cheerful than before, she jaunted down the staircase and out of the Candy Castle. A little bit of fresh air would do her good.

The kingdom itself continued on, running like it always did. She saw Shelby sitting on top of a statue's hand and waved at him. The marketplace was bustling as always, and Tree Trunks was there selling her pies. There were other vendors, selling what they could and trying to make a living. The energy and excitement of the market always seemed to buoy her spirits, and she was in a fine mood.

Even though the snow was falling, the brightly colored tents, awnings, and walls of the market still shined. Here and there a small cluster of candy people wandered from stall to stall, trying out the wares or holding them close to see if they liked them. The smaller children amused the princess greatly, as they were running from stall to stall, hiding underneath booths and under banners. Their laughter and joy infected Bubblegum, and she began to smile as they ran past her.

She saw four little creatures skitter out from under a tree, the girl leading their little pact. She was momentarily surprised, they looked like Finn did, but on closer inspection, she realized that where Finn had rounded ears, they had little tipped one, and were considerably shorter and thinner. Bubblegum made a mental note to try and find out more about them; they could prove to be an amusing diversion, and might even lead to more scientific discoveries.

With her mind turned to the scientific, she began to wander the stalls, looking for anything new and unusual. Within a short period of time, one vendor kept catching her eye, but when she would turn to look at him, he would always shy away. Not one to give up so easily, Bubblegum circled the stall slowly.

He didn't seem to be selling much of anything, just crystals and other knick-knacks, but what intrigued her most was that all of his face except for his eyes was covered. The princess didn't want to startle him, and so she went over to Tree Trunks's stall.

"Tree Trunks, could I get you to do a favor for me?" Bubblegum asked.

"Why sure darling, what do you need?" drawled the little green elephant.

She glanced over at the unknown vendor's stall and pointed. "Could you go and try to buy something from him? I want to hear him speak."

Tree Trunks smiled. "Of course I will, now you just give me a minute and before you know it I'll be right back."

Bubblegum followed a little ways behind Tree Trunks, just enough to hear the vendor's voice.

"Sure! Sure, I've got plenty of good things to sell," laughed the vendor. Something about his voice…

"Ice King! What are you doing here?" Bubblegum stepped up and slapped her hand down on his table. "You are disguised, and I want to know why you are here."

"Aww, well, you see-!" Ice King started, nervously.

"Take off that dumb hat and look at me," interrupted the princess.

The Ice King complied, removing his covering. His beard and hair were a tangled mess from being stuffed inside that mask. He had a wide grin plastered on his face. "See, my plan was to make everyone here love me by selling my beautiful sculptures," he pointed at a mass of crystal that looked like a melting chunk of ice, "so then you would love me!" Somehow, he managed to sound both pleading and completely sure of himself.

Bubblegum rolled her eyes and pushed his hand away as he tried to take hers. "Ice King, just get out of here. I don't want any trouble today, alright?"

"But Princess-!"

"No buts! Just get your butt out of here, before I have to call Finn in and you know he won't be nice!" Her stomach fluttered at the threat, but she stamped down on the feeling. "I'm going to count to three, and if you aren't out of here…"

She got to two before he puffed himself up and flew away. He was shouting that she would love him in the end as he flew higher and higher up into the sky. She couldn't help but laugh, all of the relationship trouble she was having, but the Ice King was convinced that he knew the answer. She turned around to see Tree Trunks still standing behind her, looking up at the vanishing Ice King.

"Thanks Tree Trunks," she said sweetly. "I'd like to buy a pie from you…" She remembered Marceline's admonishment to bring snacks. "Actually I'll take three." Everyone liked pies, especially from the best baker in the Candy Kingdom.

Bubblegum was ready, she had the pies, the outfit, and she felt good. Tonight would not be a disaster.

* * *

Princess Bubblegum knocked at the stable door. Moments later, her friend Lady Rainicorn answered and invited her inside.

"Thank you Lady. Marceline is throwing-" She stopped as Lady began to talk.

"Ah, you already know. I was wondering if you could give me a ride there, as long as you and Jake don't have special plans." Lady responded that they didn't, and seemed excited about tonight. "Good, I brought some pies from Tree Trunks, I know that everyone will enjoy these."

The two old friends settled back and began to talk. Lady told story after story about the puppies, and Bubblegum didn't need to feign delight at the tales. The children certainly took after their father, they had already started going on adventures and making trouble for their mother.

They had apparently been going out in the forest, and finding whatever monsters they could to fight. Even though they had grown up enough to leave their mother's side, she still fretted about them. She worried that they took on trouble like their father and 'uncle Finn' did, which she feared was too much for them. Bubblegum attempted to reassure Lady that nothing bad would happen, and she meant it. She had seen Jake and her in dangerous situations and she knew that unless the kids had not inherited even their father's cranial skills, they would be fine.

As time wore on, Bubblegum noticed that she was feeling more and more nervous, which, in turn, caused her to become irritated with herself. Lady picked up on it and asked what the matter was.

"I've just had a tiring week." She forced a small grin. "You don't need to worry about it." Lady didn't look convinced, but didn't push the princess any further. She took the opportunity to tell Lady about the newest experiment she was running, which quickly got her laughing, and time began to fly again.

Before either of them had noticed, the sun had gone down, and it was time for them to leave for Marceline's. Bubblegum, realizing there was no way to keep the pies warm, quickly heated them up. Lady had pulled together some kind of drink and had gathered cups. The two of them pranced about inside the stable, each trying to outdo the other in a silly little dance. Bubblegum was attempting some sort of waltz fused with a high-step, while Lady was trying to contort herself into increasingly more complicated poses.

When the oven dinged, and the pies were ready, both wiped tears of joy off their faces. It had been a wonderful few hours. The princess strapped the pies, drinks, and cup to Lady's back, and then hopped up herself. The rainicorn took off into the sky, rocketing up as fast as she could.

Both of the girls laughed and whooped with enjoyment as they flew through the air. It had been a long time since they had done this together. Neither of them wanted to land, but the food would cool, and so they were forced down. Stepping off her friend's back, Bubblegum looked at Marceline's house with a distinct feeling of dread.

The Princess knew she wasn't ready for tonight.


	3. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Nearly two hundred readers! I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who reads/likes/reviews this story! Also, a shout out to my Betareaders, thanks for helping me make this story as good as possible!

Also, if you get email updates, the new update will probably tell you that it is just a Q&A update, but since I consistently move the Q&A to the end chapter, this is not the case. I am actually adding a new chapter, but since I am replacing the old Q&A, this is just how the system works. That being said, on to the story!

* * *

Finn walked along, his feet crunching the snow beneath his boots. He held a small picture of Flame Princess in one hand, in the other, the wad of Princess Bubblegum's hair. He didn't know what to do. He looked at the picture in his hand. He really liked Flame Princess, she was cute and fun and exciting and willing to go on adventures with him, but… she was a fire elemental. They couldn't ever kiss. He didn't know what the glob Jake meant by tier 15 or whatever, but he knew that he and FP were going nowhere fast.

It wasn't like it was going any slower than he and PB ever had. The clump of hair in his hand seemed to twitch in sympathy. Or had he and PB gone at all? He had told Jake that they had never gone steady, but does that mean they had never gone at all, or did it just mean that she wasn't his girlfriend? As much as Finn didn't want to admit it, there was still that place in his heart for Bubblegum.

Every time he thought he had eliminated that little bit of him, it just reared back up and into his life. It would just be a little thing, something that reminded him of her, and suddenly all the feelings would come crashing back. It was becoming harder and harder to fight back. It was also becoming nearly impossible not to hate her.

It pained him to acknowledge it, but there was a small, but growing, part of him that hated Princess Bubblegum. The hatred grew from his pain, his confusion, and he knew, but he didn't know what to do with the hurt. She had scorned him, turned him down! Him, Finn the Hero! How many times had he saved the Princess? How many times had he stopped the Ice King, or the Lich, or saved the whole Kingdom? How was it fair that she still would not love him? What did he need to do?

His feet crunched through the snow, bringing him closer and closer to the spring. His body knew where it was going, while his mind was off somewhere else.

The part that hated her raged inside, and screamed its questions, while the part that loved her gave no answer. The loving part could not say why she didn't love him, or why she did not have him around as much anymore. Maybe it was because PB knew it hurt him to be around her. Maybe she didn't know how she felt. Even so, those answers failed to penetrate and change the growing anger. The answers seemed hollow and fake, just something to fill the void.

Even scarier was the fact that this was starting to affect his relationship with FP. He found himself being annoyed at her for not being like PB, for not acting the same way. It scared him, because he didn't want to lose her too. But even that was changing. At first, the future with FP seemed so bright, like her, but the more he got to know her, the more it looked like nothing could ever be there. They were different in so many ways, and that made the fight to stay with her even harder.

Luckily, she hadn't noticed yet, and Finn hadn't yet decided what to do. All he had decided to do was go to spring, and think. He noticed with a start that he had arrived, and was simply standing there, staring into the frozen water.

"What am I gonna do?" he asked aloud, questioning the air. He put his demon sword on the ground next to him. The snowflakes that landed on it instantly hissed to steam. It twisted around in the air, moving as confusingly as Finn's own thoughts. "What am I gonna do?" he repeated.

"Come to my house tonight silly," said Marceline, suddenly appearing from behind a rock.

It took quite a bit to scare a hero. It however, did not take a lot to _startle one_. Finn leapt into the air, his arms flapping around. He heard a loud laugh coming from Marceline, and whirled on her, his eyes wild. "Marceline! Why the math did you do that?"

"To scare you of course," she laughed as she landed, lying down across a cold rock.

Even Finn could admit that the situation was funny, and started to laugh. It was good to laugh, and the tight little bundle of funny feelings started to vanish inside him. "What's going on tonight at your house?"

"Movie night. You've got to get Flame Princess there," she gave Finn a crooked smile, "at least if you want her there…"

Finn blushed, thinking about what he had been considering right before Marceline showed up. "Of course I do!" He whirled around so maybe she wouldn't see his red face.

He felt a hand on his cheek, and then heard more laughter. "You dweebs don't even know what love is, and you start blushing as soon as I mention your girlfriend." She leaned in close, close enough for Finn to feel her breath on his neck. "Maybe I should see if I could suck some of that red out of your cheeks…"

Finn turned around, his eyes going wide. Marceline's face was floating just inches from his, and suddenly he noticed that the noodles were back. "Wh-wh-what," Finn stuttered, feeling odd. He took a few quick steps back.

She laughed again, and then paused, looking thoughtful. "Maybe I should try to get some of Flame Princess's red…" She rolled over onto her back, kicking her feet in the air at Finn's face. "You're too easy!"

"I've just been feeling all mix-mushed up on the inside like mud," he said indignantly. "I'm not sure I could come tonight-"

"Too bad! I've already invited Bonnie and Jake and Lady, and I said you were gonna be there…" She started to transform into a massive wolf. "So you'll be there or I'll eat you!" She lunged at him, her jaws snapping in the air.

Finn dodged to the right, behind a big rock. She crashed into it, and Finn threw himself over it and onto her back. He grabbed her fur as she started bucking and snarling at him. The entire situation was too silly for Finn, and he started laughing while he slid off Marceline to the ground. It was good to laugh, and the dumb junk inside went away again.

"There you go, you dork! What if I ate you?"

"Then I couldn't be at the movie tonight, and everyone would know that you ate me."

The vampire looked at him, her eyebrow cocked. "And how would they know that?"

Finn grabbed the demon sword and hefted it. "I'd wait until I heard the movie start… and then… ALGEBRAIC! I'd cut out of your stomach and ruin the whole night!"

She floated higher into the air, plaintively waving her hands in front of her. "Oh no! Not that!"

"Dude; that'd be so math if that happened." He sat down and took his hat off to scratch his short hair.

"Yeah that would be except- DUDE! When did you cut your hair all short!" The next thing that Finn knew Marceline was running her hands through his hair. "This is great, it feels like a peach."

Finn closed his eyes for a second, enjoying the feeling of her hands rubbing his hair. She stopped after a second and he looked up at her. "Uh. Thanks." He blushed, but noticed that she had turned slightly red too.

"Yeah… I'll- uh- see you tonight at my place. Uh, don't forget to bring some snacks or something." She turned and flew off, vanishing off into the snow after only a short time. As he bent over to pick up the clump of hair that he had dropped when Marceline scared him, he noticed something; the noodles were back.

* * *

The walk back to the treehouse took longer than him getting to the spring. He twisted one way and then the next, wandering through the forest trying to figure out what was going through his head. All he knew was that he was that he was confused, and that was something Finn never was.

He had always known what was right and what was wrong, but now, there didn't seem to be a correct answer. When he had gone to get the Enchiridion, he had known that he couldn't just kill the ant just because. That was wrong, and Finn was good. Now? He didn't know what to do.

Things had always been so plain, but there didn't seem to be a right answer. He liked Flame Princess, but he wasn't sure how seriously. He liked Peebs, but she had made it clear that she wasn't interested in him. Why did he have these feelings then? Nothing seemed to be working out like it should. A sudden scream from the woods cut through Finn's thoughts, and he ran towards the screaming, lifting his sword.

Four kids were caught up in a tangle of vines as a plant monster attacked them. The thorns were starting to cut into them, and he charged screaming. His sword hacked through the largest vine, freeing two of the kids, who scrambled away. Four vines launched themselves at Finn, who barely managed to deflect them.

They came around for another try, and one nearly grabbed his ankle. "No way dude, not gonna happen!" The sword dragged along the ground, throwing snow and green sap into the air as he severed more vines.

The ground shook with the roar of the vine monster, and it dropped the other two. It turned to face Finn, and a mass of limbs sprang at his face. He twisted to the right, his sword flashing out and slashing more flailing branches. Two managed to grab his arm, and he felt the thorns tear his skin. He switched his grip and cut those too.

Now, the monster seemed to realize Finn was a bigger threat than it had thought, and tried to shamble away back into the woods. He reared back and launched the red sword at the creature. It impaled it through the center of the body, and the plant-thing fell to the ground dead.

"That was awesome!" One of the four guys Finn had saved walked forward, limping slightly. This one was a girl, she looked a few years younger than him. "I mean, that was totes rad!"

"Uh, no problem little dude. I was just doing what I do." He walked over to the mass and pulled out his sword.

The other three moved up to stand behind the girl and were nodding with her words. "No really! That was great! We were attack by some sort of werewolf earlier, if only you had been there!" She paused, then said more quietly, "It turned into a blue girl after it stepped on one of my dice, but she was still scary."

It seemed to Finn that Marceline had been out causing trouble earlier in the day. "No, don't worry about her, she was just trying to scare you guys." He noticed that they looked travel worn and tired. "Where are you staying?"

They looked at each other, and the girl spoke again. "Nowhere, we've been wandering."

A smile broke out across Finn's face. "Why don't you guys come stay at my place? Its huge and you can sleep downstairs." The group started talking excitedly, and quickly agreed.

* * *

"Yeah, you guys can sleep down here." Finn pointed at a mass of blankets and other cloth. "You can make your beds with that." Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement as BMO climbed down the ladder.

"Oh! We have guests!" BMO's face flashed a smiley. "I will cook everyone a big meal!" He clapped his hands excitedly.

Finn walked to closer to BMO and lowered his voice. "Before that, can you send a message to FP?"

"Oh sure! What do you want to say to her?"

"Invite her to Marceline's house for a movie night. And tell her to bring some snacks or something."

BMO clapped excitedly again. "Ooh! Your first double date. This is serious Finn, this is Tier 4. You must make sure that everything goes well." His face grew serious. "I will make a special snack for Tier 4. It will be good." He turned around and marched back up the stairs, mumbling to himself.

"Don't forget the message!" Finn said, shouting up the ladder at BMO. He turned back to the others who were settling down under blankets. "I've gotta be somewhere tonight, so BMO, that's the robot, will cook for you tonight. Don't cause trouble, alright dudes?"

They nodded together, and promised to be good. Finn climbed up the ladder to his room. He needed a shower.

* * *

Flame Princess stood in front of the cave to Marceline's house. For a moment, Finn hesitated to let her know that he was there, instead he just watched her. Looking at her now, he couldn't understand why he was considering leaving her. Her hair waved in the night air, and she was holding a box of cookies. Her dress looked great, and her face was glowing beautifully in the dark.

"FP!" He called out to her as he walked up, waving at her.

She ran over to him and gave him a quick hug, trying not to burn him or squish her cookies. "I'm so excited! I've never been inside Marceline's house." She smiled, and Finn noticed that he felt warm on the inside as he took the cookies from her.

"Well, let's go see what is happening on the inside." They walked into the cave and knocked at her door. Marceline answer and waved them inside.

"I've got a seat for Flame Princess made," she said, pointing at a large chair covered in foil.

FP squeaked and sat down on it, grinning contentedly. "This is great! Thanks Marceline!"

Finn walked through the living room, FP and Marceline were talking about some girly thing, and into the kitchen. Marcy's little white dog looked at him, then hurried out the doggie-door and out of the house. Shrugging, he set the cookies and BMO's snacks on the table.

Another knock came at the door.


	4. Chapter 3

Author's Note: I know this chapter feels like a rehash, but it really adds to the characters, and this will be the only chapter [hopefully] that does this, so do not worry too much. Also, remember that if you have any questions, ask away! Enjoy the latest chapter!

* * *

What was up with Bonnie today? Normally, Marceline's pestering earned her a rebuke and an order to leave, but the little princess had seemed more put out than normal. The vampire paused just outside the window and listened as Bubblegum let out a sigh and mumbled something to herself.

Was the princess sad? She thought on the last time she had really seen Bubblegum sad-. She stopped that thought where it was, stopped it so hard that her face had scrunched up in concentration. There were guests to be invited, and things to be gotten ready, and thinking for too long would do none of that.

Luckily, the sun wasn't out today, as the thick clouds and the falling snow obscured it enough for Marceline to be out without her hat and gloves. She enjoyed the outdoors, and still missed being able to go outside and feel the sun on her without the agonizing pain. The ancient girl had long since learned to cope with the pain of the experience, but it was not worth it to endure the burning. So she loved days like these, when the sun was hidden, but it still shone down on Ooo.

Twisting around in the air, she set herself off towards the forest outside of the castle where Lady Rainicorn lived. She grinned and hoped that Jake would be there. Recently, he had become much less terrified of her, but if she was careful she could still elicit some terror from the dog.

As she flew through the air, the snow swirled around her in pleasing shapes and designs, and Marceline let out a rare laugh. One not born of humor, or of mayhem, but of pure childlike glee. While her skin was immune to the cold, she could still feel the snow hitting it and melting away. She started to twist through the air, leaving corkscrew shapes behind in the air.

She landed lightly, letting her momentum carry her to the door of the stable. She knocked, because while Marceline had interacted with Lady before, she wasn't terribly close to her, and she didn't want to endanger tonight. The door creaked open slightly, and the rainicorn poked her head outside.

She babbled something at Marceline, who smiled blankly. She didn't understand Lady, but she could be understood. Just as she was about to extend the invitation, she heard Jake's voice from inside. Launching herself over Lady, she transformed herself into a horrific bat-beast and landed, snarling. There was a shriek, and a yellow blur dived behind furniture.

Laughing uproariously, the vampire returned to her normal form. Lady shot the prankster a stern glare and said something to Jake. One eye poked over the edge of the couch, followed shortly by another and then a head.

"Not nice dude. Not nice at all." Jake stomped over to where Marceline floated, still laughing.

"I'm sorry Jake, I really am. I just! I just can't help myself!" laughed the vampire.

His eyes narrowed, and Lady said something to him. "Yeah. What do you want?"

"Uh, well… I want to invite you two over for a movie night. Bubblegum is coming, and I'm gonna go get Finn and Flame Princess to come also." She finished awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head.

Lady's long face instantly lit up, and she began jabbering excitedly at Jake. He nodded his head reluctantly, but turned back to Marceline.

"Alright, Lady wants to go, and so I'll go to." His face stretched over close to hers. "But you're on thin ice missy. _Thin ice_." He ended at a whisper.

"Uh. Great, I, uh, can't wait to see you there. Bring a snack or a drink or something for the movie." She waved and started floating out of the stable. "Oh! Do you know where Finn is at?"

Jake's face twitched as she said that, and something passed over his features. It was gone too quick for Marceline to figure out what it was, but there had been something. "Yeah, he was going to that frozen spring thingy. He likes to go there to think. Don't go and be all creepy though. The bro has got a lot on his mind, and he's just figuring things out."

The Queen raised her hands, warding him off. "I won't. I'm just gonna go tell him about the movie."

Lady looked at Jake, and murmured to him. "Oh, and Lady wants to know what we are watching."

"Heat Signature. I still haven't seen it."

Jake let out a whoop, fist pumping the air. "Yeah! Love that movie! Yeah-yeah-yeah-yea-yea-yeah!" Shaking her head, Marceline made her escape.

* * *

Finn sat below her, his head bowed, muttering to himself. Marceline had been sitting there for a minute above him. He had gone from looking sad to angry to sad and back to angry. This wasn't how Finn normally acted, and usually she wouldn't interfere, but this was way weird.

"What am I gonna do?" asked Finn, obviously talking to himself.

Grinning viciously, the old vampire lowered herself behind a rock, and floated out into his sight. "Come to my house tonight silly." She only grinned wider as Finn jumped into the air, dropping something to the ground.

"Marceline! Why the math did you do that?" His face was precious, a mixture of embarrassment and rage.

"To scare you of course," she said, barely managing to hold back laughter. She went down, and stretched out over a rock. The cold felt good.

He finally laughed, and Marceline let herself relax. He was acting more normal now. "What's going on tonight at your house?" he asked.

"Movie night." She said, intently watching his face. "You've got to get Flame Princess there," she paused a second as a guilty look overtook Finn. She continued, "at least if you want her there…"

His face flushed red. "Of course I do!" he turned around as he said that.

Sensing that he was thinking something odd again, without thinking she reached out to comfort him, placing her hand on his cheek. Realizing what she had done, and not knowing how Finn would take it, she forced herself to laugh. "You dweebs don't even know what love is, and you don't even know what love is." She leaned in close, to see how he would react. "Maybe I should see if I could suck some of that red out of your cheeks…"

A horrified expression settled onto the vampire. What was she saying? This was worse than touching him. He whirled around, and their faces were too close. Only because of her centuries of age could she keep her face blank. Normally Marceline didn't act this foolishly, but she needed to cover it up and not let Finn know she suspected something.

"What?" he stuttered and then stepped back.

She forced herself to laugh again then decided to try to bring up Flame Princess. "Maybe I should try to get some of Flame Princess's red…" Without realizing it, Finn had reached for his sword, obviously intending to protect her. So she was just overreacting, and she laughed at herself, her feet mauling the air. "You're too easy!" She left off the end of what she meant, finishing 'to read' in her head.

"I've just been feeling all mix-mushed up on the inside like mud. I'm not sure I could come tonight-"

She nearly roared at him, asking him what was the matter, but she had promised Jake. "Too bad!" she interrupted. "I've already invited Bonnie and Jake and Lady, and I said you were gonna be there…" Her anger started to get the best of her, and hair sprouted along her body. "So you'll be there or I'll eat you!"

A short tussle began, with Finn quickly gaining the upper hand. Vampires, and most especially Vampire Queens, did not practice at bodily combat. He laughed, and fell onto the ground. Marceline loomed over him, starting to drool. "There you go, you dork! What if I ate you?"

"Then I couldn't be at the movie tonight, and everyone would know that you ate me," he returned sharply.

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. Usually Finn wasn't that witty. "And how would they know that?"

The boy lifted his sword and poked it at her. "I'd wait until I heard the movie start… and then… ALGEBRAIC! I'd cut out of your stomach and ruin the whole night!"

The thought of her stomach exploding mid-movie, with Finn coming flying out was more than enough to set off another bout of laughter. She raised her hands, pretending to attempt to fend him off. "Oh no! Not that!"

"Dude; that'd be so math if that happened." Finn sat down on the ground, and pulled off his hat. She was surprised again, generally he kept it on. Marceline could count the number of times she had seen Finn hatless on one hand.

"Yeah that would be except-," the thought of what she was about to say flew out of her head. Instead of Finn's long flowing hair, it was short and stubbly. She dashed over and started running her hands though hi s hair. "DUDE! When did you cut your hair all short! This is great, it feels like a peach." She continued for a minute more, before she again realized what she was doing and stopped.

Finn looked up at her, blushing again. "Uh. Thanks," he said, looking down again. She knew she was blushing also, what was wrong with her? She needed to get out of here.

"Yeah… I'll- uh- see you tonight at my place. Uh, don't forget to bring some snacks or something." As quick as she could, Marceline flew away.

It wasn't just Bubblegum and Finn that were acting strange; she was too.

* * *

The cave that surrounded her house was nearly always quiet; it was a good place to think. Marceline floated upside down, sitting on the roof of the cave. It was still hours before anyone would show up, and before anyone did Marceline wanted to get her head fixed. Why had she been acting so strange today? Her brow furrowed in concentration, and unconsciously her lips drew back, revealing her sharp teeth.

Or had it just been today? No, she decided, it had been for a while now. She hadn't really thought about it, but her music had been suffering, and she had stopped going outside her little house. While she hated thinking about herself, there wasn't a way to avoid it. What was the issue?

The vampire closed her eyes and tried to picture what could the problem. She hadn't seen her father in a while, but that wasn't a problem, that was good. She hadn't seen anyone in weeks, but that wasn't the problem, that was one of the symptoms.

Could it be her food? She hadn't found anything particularly red recently. Winter was always the hardest time for her to come up with red foods, but usually she wouldn't act this way if she was just hungry.

Was her father doing something then? Had he devised a plan to draw her into the Nightosphere and make her his heir again? She doubted it, usually he wasn't this subtle. He preferred to stop on a problem until it died rather than ponder and act introspectively. She supposed that this is where she got much of her attitude.

If none of those things were the issue, what was? After a few more moments, her eyes flew open and she hissed. She knew what was wrong.

* * *

The first to arrive was Finn and Flame Princess. The boy seemed to be acting better, and Flame Princess seemed more than happy with him. Marceline hadn't really had a chance to talk with her, so she sat FP down in a chair that she had made especially for tonight.

She smiled at the elemental, and made some small talk. She was interested in getting to know the fiery girl. They had little in common, but they did share a similar attitude about women and adventuring. Not long after Finn vanished into the kitchen, another knock sounded at the door.

Floating over to it, Marceline opened the door and greeted Jake. It seemed he had come without Lady, but with Flame Princess and Finn there she resisted the urge to try to scare him again. He had brought some kind of drinks, he said they were a secret family recipe, but Finn claimed that there weren't any secret family recipes. As the two began to good naturedly argue, Marceline returned to her seat near FP.

She leaned in, smiling wickedly. "So, how serious is you and Finn's relationship?" Flame Princess's face changed to a deeper red. "Have you kissed yet?"

"Yes," said FP in a small voice. "We have, but we can't anymore… At least, that's what we've been told. I don't know if there is a way around it or not, but I hope there is…" She looked positively downcast, and Marceline knew that she had asked the wrong question.

Trying to defuse the situation, the vampire floated over to the television to make sure that the film was ready to go. She fiddled with the settings more than necessary, to try to give the other girl time to return to normal. As she had decided that all the knobs and buttons were tweaked to her standard, the two boys reentered the room, now discussing the advantages and disadvantages of something or another. It didn't pique Marceline's interest.

Finn settled in the chair next to FP, and Jake nabbed the couch for him and Lady. She had figured that this would be the seating arrangement, and had left the two most comfortable chairs on the far side of Finn for her and Bonnie.

Just as soon as she had finished thinking that, there were voices outside, and Bonnie and Lady walked into the house.


	5. Chapter 4

Author's Note: I'm so sorry for the missed Chapter last week. I'll make it up to you guys, within the next two or three weeks I'll do a double update week, where I'll update on Wednesday and Friday. My life got really hectic for about two weeks, and I was putting in about 10 hours days everyday, and I just couldn't find the time to write. Thanks to my Beta-Reader who put in extra time to make sure that I would have the story prepped and ready to go. (This has been one heck of a week and I totally forgot to edit my breaks out and change them to the little-line things, so I've done that now.)

Thanks for everyone who has supported me in this, and reviewed and enjoyed the story!

* * *

The Princess and Lady walked into the house, and the sweet smell of Treetrunks's pies wafted in Jake's nose. His stomach began to growl, and in this case it was nearly literal. His stomach distended into a face, and began reaching for the food before Jake could slap it.

Lady and Finn looked at him, both amused. "Look. When a dude's hungry, a dude's gotta eat." He suited his words to actions and reached over to grab a slice of pie.

Bubblegum slapped his hand away. "Not yet. Wait until we get it set up," she frowned at him, shaking her head slightly.

The girls vanished into the kitchen, leaving Jake behind where he stood rubbing his hand. Flame Princess giggled, then excused herself and walked into the kitchen to join the other two. Marceline eyed the two boys, then grinned wickedly and floated away to join the others.

Jake knew she was up to no good, but simply hoped she wouldn't ruin the pies. He smiled suddenly and looked at Finn. "So, double-date night tonight, and the first real movie date. This is serious bro, like triple ice-cream serious." He leaned in closer to Finn and whispered, "I remember me and Lady's first movie date. It was special, so I wanted to make this one special for you. I've got you a gift man." He reached around behind his back and pulled out some kind of crystal looking thing.

"What's that man?" asked Finn, reaching over for it.

"It's a super-rare magic crystal device. It protects you from fire, so you can hold her hand." Jake winked. "I know you wanna kiss her again, but don't do that, it would mess up the world and stuff."

Finn blushed and tucked the little crystal away. "How does it work?"

A serious of loud screams came from the kitchen, and Marceline came whizzing out, trailing smoke and patting her jacket to smother flames. "I dunno. I got it off some dude, just break it when you wanna hold her hands. It only works for like 10 minutes or something." His stomach growled again. "Anyway. I'm hungry, and it looks like they are all ready for us!" He walked towards the kitchen, eagerly rubbing his hands together.

* * *

"Dude! Get back!" Jake's face twisted horribly, turning in a continuous circle, but his eyes always managed to stay level. "Bro! Bro!"

The movie had just gotten to the scariest part, and even though he had seen it, Jake still felt the same terror he did the first time. Lady was staring at the screen in horror, and Flame Princess was hiding her eyes, but Marceline seemed to be grinning and enjoying this.

She caught Jake's eyes, and then a look of terror passed over her face as Jake felt some kind of slimy thing slither onto him from behind the couch. Letting out a scream, Jake leapt from the couch and spun to face whatever it was. To his shock and despair, it was one of the tendrils of the monster from the movie. Screeching, he melted into a puddle on the ground.

Marceline let out a loud laugh, and revealed that the tentacle was actually just her transformed arm. Everyone else in the room burst out laughing, and Flame Princess seemed to glow brighter as she shook with humor.

"I got you so good!" Marceline nearly fell on the ground, she was laughing so hard. "You thought that there was an actual monster in here!"

Jake picked himself up and began to swell himself, until his head brushed the ceiling. "Oh yeah? Well, you smell like dookie!" He smiled proudly, and puffed out his chest, obviously very pleased with his retort.

Lady twisted around Jake until her face was level with his, and began to talk rapidly at him, her voice stern. Within short order, Jake stopped looking pleased and began to look very abashed. After a minute, he shrunk back down to normal size and slunk back to the couch. Still, Lady wasn't through, and turned her attention to the vampire.

Despite Marceline not knowing what was being said, the intent was quite clear. This was not proper behavior, and since having her pups, Lady Rainicorn had obviously picked up some motherly traits. Even though she didn't understand the exact words, the Vampire Queen too shrunk back into her chair, her face flushed slightly. Settling back down by Jake, Lady returned her attention to the movie.

Princess Bubblegum and understood everything that had been said, and she found the reprimands just as humorous as the prank. The movie was over halfway over now, and to her great surprise, Bonnie found the night to be both relaxing and fun. Flame Princess didn't seem to bear a grudge, and Finn was acting his normal self.

However, Marceline was not. It wasn't obvious, but PB had known the other girl for too many years to not pick up on her subtle body language. She sat too stiffly, and seemed to drift off into thought during the film.

The Princess resolved to watch Marceline more closely as the film went on.

* * *

As the movie ended, with one last great scream from the Monster, and a triumphant kiss from the Captain and his girlfriend, Finn caught Flame Princess's eye. She smiled at him, and he felt a surge of giddiness crash over him.

FP had styled her hair different today, it was shorter. She looked great tonight, and with Jake's crystal… But still, there was always that barrier that she couldn't kiss or be kissed. And while Finn was very happy with FP, it bugged him that there didn't seem to be any way to go forward.

The credits started to roll while Marceline and Bubblegum both moved towards the bathroom, and Jake and Lady were curled around each other sleeping. The lights were still dark, and it seemed like as good a time as any, so Finn broke the crystal.

He reached over and gently picked up the elemental's hand. She turned suddenly, a look of concern taking over her face. Finn smiled to show it that it was alright, and laced his fingers in hers.

"How?" she whispered blissfully.

"Jake got some sort of magic crystal." It was wonderful, just holding her hand. Letting the feeling of her roll over him, he sighed and leaned back.

They sat that way for a few minutes, just feeling each other. Both of them relished this, FP face's was so happy that Finn's chest felt like it would burst. "How… how long does it last?"

Finn could already feel the heat in his, and it was building. "Not much longer," he said sadly.

"Well, let's enjoy what we have." They both smiled and relished the feeling of touch each other, skin to skin.

* * *

Bubblegum waited for Marceline to finish. Generally, the two of them had a certain distance between them, but with the awkwardness between Bubblegum and everyone else, she had resolved to try to fix all of her friendships… even the one with Marceline, no matter the cost. The princess waited for the vampire to finish, so she could find out what had been bothering Marceline.

* * *

Marceline floated out of the bathroom and saw Bonnie reclining against the wall, deep in thought about something. The princess noticed her floating there and walked over to her.

"Marceline, I have something to ask you."

The vampire's stomach did a few flips, as she thought to herself. 'No-no-no-no. Not today, not today, this can't be happening today.' She carefully kept her face neutral, but without meaning to she had floated back a few inches.

"Uh, yeah. Go for it." Marceline turned slightly and began to idly fuss with her shoes.

"Is there… something bothering you?" Surprisingly, the princess sounded like she actually care, and even more shockingly, she looked worried too.

This caught Marceline off guard, and she nearly stuttered. "Why would you ask that? Everything is just like it always is." The queen tried to float by Bubblegum, but the other girl pressed herself to the wall and wouldn't let Marceline by.

"That is not true. You have been exhibiting strange behavior, and that is certainly not normal." She bit down on her lower lip. "And while normally I wouldn't ask, I have… made certain promises to myself that I would like to keep."

Eyeing Bonnie strangely, Marceline that something was going on. "I think you are the one acting funny. You've been strange since I saw you earlier today. Why don't you tell me what's wrong?"

"What? Me? No, what is bothering me is of no importance, but what is wrong with you?"

Marceline could feel herself becoming angry. This was always how it went. The perfect little princess couldn't admit that she had some problem with herself, and so she always tried to force the issue off onto someone else. "Look, if you don't wanna tell me what's the matter, fine, but don't expect me to tell you then!" She shoved Bonnie out of the way, and started down the hallway back towards the living room when she stopped.

"The problem with me is that I can't fix Flame Princess," said Princess Bubblegum, her voice nearly breaking. She was looking at the ground and small tears ran down her face. "I've been trying to stabilize her matrix for so long, and I just can't figure out how to do it." She looked back up at the dumbfounded Marceline.

"I can't make Finn happy, I don't know why… I just… don't like him that way. So I want to give him happiness, make it to where he and Flame Princess can work out, but I just can't figure out how to do it!" Despite her tears, at the end the little princess seemed so angry at herself.

Without thinking about what she was doing, Marceline enveloped PB in a hug. "It's alright Bonnie. You don't always have to be perfect. You don't always have to have the right answer." Bubblegum reached around and returned the hug, still sobbing into Marceline's shirt.

After a few minutes, she stopped and took a step back. "Do you mean that?" she said, dabbing at her eyes.

"I do, Bonnie."

* * *

By the time that Marceline had finished talking to Bubblegum, Finn and Flame Princess were ready to go. They said their goodbyes to everyone, and left together. Marceline suspected that something had happened while she was away, but she didn't know what it could be. Jake and Lady were fast asleep, and so Bonnie woke them up and escorted them home.

The vampire floated into the kitchen, were a mess of dishes and half-eaten food lay everywhere. Tonight had been much more interesting than she had thought it would be.


	6. Q&A

The last chapter of the story will always be a Q&A area. (Sorry to disappoint if you thought you were getting two chapters in one update.) I will try to keep this updated with all current questions, and if you don't see yours check back later, and be aware I might be changing answers (I'll mark the ones I add/update with an '*'.)

Q: How old is Finn?

A: Finn is about 14 months younger than his voice actor and so when this story starts, he is about to turn 15. As the story progresses, I'll update this, but so far, all the chapters have happened over the course of one day. (This will not be the norm, and the story will take place over a longer period of time.)

Q: How often will you update?

A: Good question! I hope to update ~1/week. I may do more, and I may slip a little, but I'd like to update every Friday until the story is finished.

*Q: Will the characters be aging, or are they going to stay the same age?

*A: They will age in story as it goes along. I didn't plan originally for this many chapters to happen on the same day. (Originally-originally this story was only PB's opening monologue and two others, until the other characters wanted their side of the story told.)

*Q: I can't help but notice the four kids that Marci, PB, and Finn had encountered in the previous chapters. I was wondering if they have a huge role to take part that will somehow affect the flow of the story.

*A: I am a big believer in Chekhov's Gun, and so yes, they are there for a reason. However, pacing or impacting this story? RAFO! (Read And Find Out!) Seriously though, they will not be _that_ important in _this__ story_. I'll let you make of that what you will.

*Q: Who are you shipping?

*A: RAFO!


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